


When the Viper met the Manticore

by EveWillows33112



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: First Meeting, Injury, Letho Being a Nice Guy, Letho's a tease, M/M, No Descript Violence/Injury, Nyx is a lover not a fighter, Pre-Relationship, So are drowners, Violence, Water hags are bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 14:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10467303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveWillows33112/pseuds/EveWillows33112
Summary: Letho stumbles across a fellow witcher in distress and takes care of him after an injury. They go their separate ways but their paths are intertwined no matter what.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The shoulder demon is not leaving me alone. Kudos, Comments, and Reads make me a happy fangirl! Enjoy!

When rain fell in Velen, it poured down like the God's wrath. It made ponds out of fields, oceans out of swamps, sunk houses, and caused mudslides the likes of which Letho has never seen. 

The rain pelted the shack Letho had taken refuge in for the night, the wind rattled the windows, and the thunder shook the very Earth. It was the nastiest storm he'd seen in a long while. It was, much to his own bravado, much like Letho himself. Powerful, unyielding, violent, uncaring of the innocents caught in its midst.  
Letho sat on a bench near the small hearth that he built a fire in, sharpening his blades with steady hands. His chainmail left neatly discarded in a corner alongside another set that belonged to the witcher that laid on the straw bed just a few feet from him. 

Golden eyes looked at the other witcher briefly. The young man was Zerkanian, copper skin, long white hair, and golden eyes that were lightly shut. A witcher of the Manticore School, it was odd to see one of them stray so far away from their home, but not surprising considering what he was hunting.  
Letho had come across the other witcher by chance in the middle of a swamp fighting a pack of drowners, and a water hag that had been terrorizing caravans that were heading to local villages that were in desperate need of supplies. Should've been an easy take, but Letho guessed the other witcher wasn't expecting the fight he got. 

Feeling generous, and in the hopes of taking half the reward, Letho jumped into the fray and decided to help him. By the time he'd gotten close to the other man, the water hag had sliced the younger witcher's side deeply sending him to the ground and he was soon overwhelmed by the drowners. 

Letho dispatched them quickly, and ruthlessly taking a few small cuts to himself but it did nothing to deter him. When they were all dead, Letho had turned to the other witcher lying in the shallow water that had tendrils of blood coming from his wound and sighed heavily. If it hadn't been a witcher he'd leave the poor fool there to die, but there was a sense of brotherly bond that came with the mutations. 

Sheathing his silver blade and collecting the trophy, he lifted the other witcher into his arms, he'd get him somewhere safe and fix him up. If he died Letho still had the trophy to collect the reward. Glancing down at the witcher's chest he noted the Manticore medallion and sighed heavily, alone and a long way from home, idiot. 

Letho had just made it to the shack when the rain started. It was dry and there was some kindling inside he could use for the night. It wasn't an inn, but it would do in a pinch. Which now brought him to this moment, of sharpening his blades and looking over the wounded witcher while the storm raged outside. 

The boy wasn't a completely incompetent at least, plenty of potions, oils, and supplies were in his pack. Letho was able to clean and tend to the wound without worry of having to half ass it, the other witcher would live at least. 

A soft groan came from the bed making Letho pause mid swipe of his whetstone. He looked to the other witcher while he stirred and groaned. Getting up he knelt by the other man and uncorked a pouch of water. 

"Don't move too much, I spent a solid hour closing that wound and I would appreciate if you didn't reopen it again," Letho said firmly, but quietly. He gently lifted the smaller man's head pressing the water skin to his lips. "Drink its water," he said. 

The smaller man groaned a little but drank a few mouth fulls before pushing it away with a grateful sigh. Satisfied Letho set the water skin down and laid the other witcher's head down against the makeshift pillow he made from the saddlebags from his horse. "What's your name?" Letho asked. The other witcher coughed a little, turning his head towards Letho, his eyes opened just a crack. 

"N-Nyx Hart," he groaned. 

"What are you doing out here alone?"

"Exiled for five years...failed a big contract...people got killed..." Nyx coughed hard wincing in pain. "Where am I?" he asked. 

"Still in Velen, you were wounded taking on a water hag and some drowners, lucky for you I had been passing by and decided to help. I'm Letho, Letho of Gulet. Some call me the Kingslayer."

"Heard of you...the Witcher who killed King Demavend."

"The very same," Letho said, a satisfied smile coming to his lips. Nyx sighed heavily, laying back against the pillow his eyes closing. "You're still weak, sleep for now we'll discuss the reward in the morning." 

"You killed it, the reward's yours..." Nyx said sleepily. 

"Your contract, frankly you'd already taken out a lot of the drowners before I got there. I'd say that entitles you to half. But we'll talk about that later, rest." 

Nyx no longer argued after that falling into a healing sleep. Sighing heavily Letho leaned against the wall next to the other man. He tilted his head back and shut his eyes letting himself be lulled to sleep by the raging storm outside. 

It was the sound of birds chirping and armor clinking that woke Nyx from his sleep. Golden eyes fluttered open and he saw the other man, Letho tugging on his armor. The taller man's eyes were on him briefly before turning back to his chainmail. 

"Good you're awake, dawn's breaking we'd best go collect that reward. Who gave you the contract?" he asked. Nyx grunted while he rolled from the bed, the pain in his side was still there but more of a dull throb. 

"Mulbrydale, East from the Inn at the Crossroads," he said while reaching for his armor hissing at the movements while he got his armor on. 

"We're not too far then," Letho said and watched the other witcher latching his armor and finally sliding his swords to his back. "Let's be off, got a horse?" Nyx shook his head a little.

"Griffin killed it at White Orchard. Been on foot since then," he said. Letho shook his head laughing softly. 

"For a witcher, you suck at combat." Nyx wrinkled his nose a little at the comment but raised his head proudly. 

"The Manticore School isn't known for combat true, however, we're the best alchemists you'll find." Ah, that explains why he was so prepared with supplies. Letho shrugged and opened the door. 

"Come on kid daylight's burning," he said. Nyx pushed passed him the glare still set on his face. 

"I told you my name Kingslayer, I'd appreciate if you used it," he snapped. Letho blinked at him and laughed to himself shaking his head again. 

"As you wish," he said and shut the door behind him following Nyx down the path to Mulbrydale. 

The walk was quiet, surprisingly so. No wolves, no monsters, not even bandits along the path. Nyx took notice of the good fortune but said nothing as to not jinx himself. He could fight if needed, but he'd rather not irritate the wound anymore that it already is. Touching his side gently he rubbed it to try and soothe it, admittedly, Letho did a fine job patching him up. However it was nothing special, any witcher given the right supplies, could fix a mundane wound like this. 

"Does it hurt?" Letho asked making Nyx jump a little. The other witcher had been so quiet, that the casual conversation surprised him. 

"Not really, twinges a little and it's god damn itchy," he groused. A hearty laugh left Letho's lips at the boy making him wrinkle his nose again in distaste which only made Letho want to tease him more. That, however, would have to wait for another time, if there was another time.

They walked in silence again for a while until they reached the village line. "I was thinking about the reward. You turn in the trophy, so at least you can act like a proper witcher. We split the reward fifty-fifty, and that's me being generous. We do this and we go our separate ways." 

"Deal," Nyx said. 

The trade off went well, and Nyx was given a sizable reward. It didn't take much to convince the man who put up the contract that the only reason there were two witchers was that they had simply crossed paths. Not a complete lie, but not the complete truth. When they had left the village and gone up the path to a set of crossroad Nyx and Letho decided to part ways. 

"Here's your half," Nyx said handing Letho a pouch of crowns. They stood there staring at each other until Nyx cleared his throat pushing a stray silver hair behind his ear. "This is goodbye then," he said.

"Yeah, thanks for the cut. Take care of yourself, and all of that," Letho said and turned to head East while Nyx turned to the West. 

"Yeah you too," Nyx said quietly and went to take a step. He paused and turned towards Letho who had already started walking. "Hey Kingslayer!" he called after him. Letho stopped and turned to face him with a raised brow. "Thanks for saving me. If not for you I'd be dead and gone from this world." Letho only smiled and nodded his head before continuing on his way. 

Nyx watched him for a moment and then started on his way. Neither one was sure if their paths would cross again, but deep down they both really hoped so.


End file.
